Marcus ‘Ace’ Hoelgaard

The name Marcus ‘Ace’ Hoelgaard probably doesn’t ring a bell to anyone but those who follow the competitive Dota 2 scene very closely.

A solid carry player who has been a part of many Tier 2 and 3 teams since 2012, Ace’s highest point in his career so far probably has been with The Imperial, who later played under the name Danish Bears and was eventually picked up by Cloud9 for the Olympic-style tournament, World Electronic Sports Games 2016.

Ace was one of the standouts at WESG 2016 for Cloud9 where they towered over much of the competition. However, they came across a rampaging all-Filipino TNC Pro Team in the Grand Finals, losing 2-1 to finish in 2nd-place.

Cloud9 was never able to sustain the success after that 2nd-place finish and disbanded back in May. But, despite the team’s lack of success, Ace remained a solid hard carry and often received high praises from scene veterans.

Adrian ‘FATA-‘ Trinks

Adrian ‘FATA-‘ Trinks is a common staple of top-level Dota 2 tournaments. He has played at every TI since TI3 and has a handful of 2nd-place finishes with both Cloud9 and Team Liquid.

FATA- is perhaps most famous for building the support item Mekansm on mid heroes, often doing so with great success.

He most recently played with Cloud9, which qualified for TI7 via the NA qualifiers as Team NP and finished in 13th-16th place at the main event.

The New Team Secret

Marcus ‘Ace’ Hoelgaard

Yek Nai ‘MidOne’ Zheng

Adrian ‘FATA-‘ Trinks

Yazied ‘YapzOr’ Jaradat

Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov

Team Secret was the first team to announce a roster change post TI7 after letting go of both Maurice ‘KheZu’ Gutmann and Pyo ‘MP’ No-a. Coincidentally, they are one of the last to announce their new lineup.

With a greedy trio of players in Puppey, YapzOr and MidOne, the European Dota 2 team needed solid playmakers who could make a lot happen without much farm. On paper, Ace and FATA- fit the bill quite nicely.

https://youtu.be/T6XAa3akaNM

Although a hard carry, Ace has proven excellent at farming with little to no space, which could help MidOne shine more on mid. Additionally, his excellent play on Meepo and Timbersaw could give Puppey a tactical advantage heading into the draft of most games.

FATA-, meanwhile, has mostly been a mid player throughout his career. However, his playstyle resembles that of OG’s mid-turned-offlaner Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson where he prefers to create space and make plays for the team.

With a 2-time Major winner and TI champ as a template, as well as a hero pool consisting of the likes of Puck, Beastmaster and Brewmaster, FATA-‘s could have a near-seamless transition to the offlane.